Culmination
by DaughteroftheOneTrueKing
Summary: Tom Riddle does the thing hes been building up to for a long while now.


**Annnd I'm back!. This is for QLFC round 9, and it's all about… Queen! I am not a great fan of them, even though I do know a couple of songs. Naturally, as Captain, I have been assigned to gain inspiration from arguably their most famous song, Bohemian Rhapsody. We have to use a line from the song, and I've decided to use, "Goodbye, everybody, I've got to go."**

**I hope you all like this, and please take a moment to stop and review!**

**Word Count: 1009**

Tom Riddle looked up the graying sky as he approached the Riddle House. He felt a force pulling him towards the estate… towards his destiny.

The library had helped him find out all he needed to know; all about the magic he would wield tonight and had wielded once before successfully. Horace Slughorn, the bumbling oaf, had confirmed his belief in the magic of seven. _He was ready._

Making his way to the end of the drive, he thought of the mother he had never known. She had died as he had come into the world and left him to fend for himself. Ms. Cole, the orphanage matron, had told him she'd wanted him to be a good boy; she'd wanted him to study, to pass all of his classes, and to end up with a comfortable life, a good job and a nice girl. Well, she wouldn't be getting her wish… Tom wanted so much more.

Reaching the estate, Tom stared at the front door and made a decision: no obvious entrances. If he burst in through the front doors, he would end up triumphant in the end, (no Muggles could best him), but he would be unable to keep eyes on all the servants. He knew that it would be hectic and messy; they would call the local police, and that would ruin his plan of framing his useless Uncle Morfin for the murders.

Walking around, he came to a small door that was likely only for the gardener's use. It was secluded and practically invisible from the main road. With a cautious glance around, he approached and saw a middle-aged Muggle man heading down the same path he had just traveled. He seemed angry, war-hardened, and unsociable, his hair prematurely graying. The man gave him a glance, then turned away dismissively. Tom was glad of the easy dismissal. Tomorrow, when questions would be asked, the man might not even remember him.

Tom aimed the wand he'd stolen from Morfin at the door and murmured, "_Alohomora_." A faint click told him he had done it perfectly, and he pushed open the wooden back door. It gave a faint creak, which ended with a quick whisper, "_Silencio."_

Now inside the house, Tom slipped silently through the kitchens; the servants had already left for the evening. That would work well for Tom, fewer witnesses to cause trouble. Across the open space was a door that assumedly led into the dining room. The sounds told him that this was where his quarry would most likely be waiting. Taking a quick look around the door, he saw that he had been correct. Three people sat at the dinner table, though they had long since finished eating.

The people were complete strangers to him, even though they were family. The older man and woman were unpleasant looking, and the younger man… when Tom saw him, his vision nearly turned red with anger. The man looked so much like he did. He despised the fact that he'd inherited so much from the man.

This man was his father, but Tom Riddle, Sr had no right to that title. He had abandoned him and his mother, and Tom knew deep down that it had caused his mother's death. Here his father sat in his opulent home, every luxury at his fingertips. He had everything he could wish for. His parents, Tom's grandparents, were just as bad. Tom had been stuck in that abominable orphanage, and here they lived like royalty. It was too much to bear. He would show them exactly what they were worth.

He stepped out into the light, revealing himself to the three table inhabitants. They gave him looks of mingled disdain, anger, and pity.

_'No matter,' _he thought. '_I don't need these people's sympathies.'_

"Who are you?" the older man demanded. "Leave at once!"

Aiming the stolen wand, Tom responded with a sinister, "Why would I leave the house of my father?" Before the man could say anything, Tom cast the spell. "_Avada Kedavra_."

It was his first intentional kill, and it made him feel powerful. Back in school, the Basilisk had merely been a trial run. He'd set it out, and if anything happened, that was good. When that third year Ravenclaw girl had been killed, it had become too risky to continue. As he watched his grandfather slump lifelessly to the table, he felt more powerful than even controlling the Basilisk had made him feel.

Before the other two could do more than open their mouths to start a scream, Tom cast another, "_Avada Kedavra," _and his grandmother fell like her husband.

As his father cringed like the coward Tom knew all Muggles to be, he said, "I'll give you anything you want! Anything, how much do you need?"

"I need nothing from you, _father,_" he mocked. The thought made Tom laugh out loud. He wanted nothing from this pathetic man, and so he said, "You don't know who I am, do you?" The man gave a terrified shake of his head. "I thought not." Tom quickly raised his wand without ever clarifying and spoke the killing words. "_Avada Kedavra."_

And his father fell to the table just like his parents, never knowing why he had been the object of such hatred. Tom felt savage pleasure in the act he had performed. He had shown these Muggles the true heights he would go to. They would only be the first.

Making his way out of the house the way he'd come in, he thought wryly, '_Goodbye everybody. I've got to go.' _

Exiting the mansion, he locked the gardener's door so no one would be suspicious… at least until they discovered the bodies, which likely wouldn't be until tomorrow morning.

Hurrying back down the path he'd come up earlier, Tom thought of his mother again. Her life had been so short, and his father's hadn't lasted much longer, Tom had seen to that. As he looked back once more, he couldn't help thinking, _My life has only just begun. _


End file.
